To date, I have finished 50 paintings, more or less. At least five more await completion. A few of these have been languishing years; three, a few months. Others, though, have moved to other homes!

Trying to get these framed for a show would be . . . expensive.  So, it’s good I am not having one.

As you know, artists whose colorful canvases have made me smile have inspired to keep painting, amateur that I am. Georgia O’Keeffe’s explanation for the appeal of color makes sense to me:

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.”

I wonder if that’s what the Lord thought when He made us?

Today’s Tonic, More or Less

Many of the paintings,  “after ” this artist, or another, still keep me out of the doldrums this unique season is spawning.

What is keeping you sailing forward?

Knowing there is an elephant in the room, which casts deep and complicated shadows throughout the day, how goes it with thee? You might enjoy the following hour-long pod cast, which informed and comforted Doug and me:

A Christian Response to Corona Virus by N.T. Wright and Francis Collins

Throughout the past four months, daily trying to reproduce what these artists saw is helping me look more closely at the ordinary treasures with which I live – my sunflowers, geraniums, even the weeds.

Ok . . . not the weeds so much:

I always think of my sins when I weed.  They grow apace in the same way and are harder still to get rid of.  ~Helena Rutherfurd Ely, A Woman’s Hardy Garden, 1903

The fifty paintings, have I just been adding to our clutter?

Given the recent influx of paints and canvases . . . perhaps.

I’d rather look at the bright side . . . they might liven up a yard sale; the one I wish we could have, but can’t because of COVID-19!

I have noticed that the pictures I take of my paintings somehow look better than the originals; which is why their representation may make their way to mugs or greeting cards. (If sales on Shutterfly seem reasonable.)

The trouble with simple living is that, though it can be joyful, rich, and creative, it isn’t simple. ~Doris Janzen Longacre